Hottest Event of the Year!

Hi all!

Following on from my last blog which was an opportunity to get involved in naming one of my aluminium pattern designs, the winner is Sara and she suggested Club Tropicana which really appealed to me.  She said the design reminded her of grapefruits, lemons, limes and oranges and I thought that really fitted it so well so Club Tropicana it is! Sara wins a pendant in that design. These are a couple of images of pieces I made out of the design.

 

Hope you like the name and thank you for taking part if you did - I had some lovely suggestions.



So, onto this week's hot activity!

Some time ago I applied for a place on the Crafts Council Hothouse Taster Day which was held yesterday at Plymouth College of Art. 

Now, I'm not sure what I was expecting but it was something along the lines of wrinkly old me and a lot of talented fresh faced students - not so! Of course, there were a lot of students from Plymouth and from Falmouth and they were all lovely and fresh faced, but what was also refreshing was that there were also many others in various stages of business, from set-up stage to early trading.  I'd imagined it would be interesting but largely not aimed at me.  What I can absolutely say is that if you get an opportunity to attend one of these sessions, you really should go! 

The day started with a goodie bag (always a good start!), coffee and then down to business with my favourite business author Alison Branagan who'd grabbed me in a big hug when I blurted out during coffee that I'd got all her books (I hadn't realised who I was chatting to!!).  She gave us common sense, intensely practical advice.

After that session, the speakers came thick and fast and every one was absorbing, some talking about their experiences as Hothouse cohorts and others about their early professional practice and a lightening introduction from Lucy Foakes on social media networking. We also had speakers from the The Devon Guild of Craftsmen, The Contemporary Craft Fair, ArtsThread and of course the Crafts Council as well as many individual artists. 

I went to bed last night buzzing with information and exhausted in a really good way.  This morning I was up at 7am trying to get the information down onto different lists, to do and to remember. There was so much of value.  As you can see, I cannot speak highly enough of this opportunity. I've already made contact with some people I met there.

So, now I really should go into my studio and do some of my other work, there's some work to be sorted to deliver to a new stockist tomorrow and a restock to get into the post today, no peace for the wicked!

Onwards to next week!